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Whole Foods In Brooklyn Is *Jacked Up* On Cleantech

A new Whole Foods Market store in Brooklyn is totally jacked up on cleantech, as well as other cool stuff. It includes:

19 UGE solar/wind-powered street lights (completely off the grid)

2 wind-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations

360kW solar car port (installed by a local financier)

Using distributed renewable energy (DRE) for charging electric vehicles comes with a few notable benefits (other than being clean), as UGE notes:

Powering EV chargers with onsite DRE is more efficient than through the grid due to minimal grid losses in transmission

Adding DRE to EV charging can add resiliency in the case of grid outages

Furthermore, the prominently placed EV chargers help to promote EV adoption. Naturally, Whole Foods is all about influencing consumer choice in a green way.

“We’re about 60% more efficient than any other grocery store in the United States. We’re going to be saving about 2.5 million kWh a year, which is equivalent to taking about 360 cars off the road annually. In addition to our combined heat and power system…we’ve incorporated Skypumps that use wind and solar energy to power electric vehicle charging stations. These same wind and solar technologies are also used to power our light poles. When you shop at Whole Foods Third and 3rd what you’ll feel is our commitment to supporting and advancing environmental stewardship,” Tristam Coffin & J’aime Mitchell of the Whole Foods Market Green Mission Team state.

The wind-powered EV charging stations (UGE Sanya Skypumps) combine UGE vertical-axis micro wind turbines with GE WattStations. Since UGE is the company that passed along this news about the Whole Foods Market Brooklyn opening, and since it’s doing some pretty cool stuff, I’ll go ahead and share a few more facts about the company with you:

World leader in DRE with installations in over 80 countries

Complete DRE solution provider for enterprise customers, from solar PPAs to microgrids, a leader in both powering telecoms towers and street lighting, and the undisputed world leader in vertical axis wind turbines

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media.
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The store expects more than a thousand car trips per day. Even if
the new “renewable” energy source is equivalent to removing 360 cars
from the streets, the desire to buy food from the store will indeed be
generating far more car trips on our streets that are currently
occurring since most people walk to local shops near where they live.

The planning, specifically the location, of this store is not
environmentally friendly because it brings a form of suburban
consumption, based on auto travel, to an urban community that is not
based around cars. The benefits of organic foods are not worth such a
huge step backwards for the environment that this store has imposed on
Brooklyn.

You just don’t get to removing those imagined 360 cars from the streets by generating greater need to use a car.

Matt

Love their parking lot PV. Not only does it make electric, your car will not so hot when you come out of the store. Would be a easy zoning change to get your town green. For new buildings, at least 50% of your parking lot must be covered in PV. Can apply for exception based on extreme shading.

Wind Energy

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